CHAPTER 3 — THE WATCH
CHAPTER 3 — THE WATCH
The scream came from the second floor.
“Daddy!”
Ethan ran.
He took the stairs three at a time, with Mia right behind him.
The mansion was completely dark.
Not dim.
Not partially lit.
Completely black.
The emergency lights should have activated automatically.
They didn't.
That was when Ethan understood.
Someone hadn't simply cut the electricity.
Someone had overridden the security system.
“Lily!” he shouted.
“Daddy!”
Her voice came from the nursery.
Ethan reached the door and threw it open.
Lily was standing beside her bed, clutching Noah against her.
A shadow moved near the window.
Ethan lunged forward.
“Stop!”
The figure jumped through the open window.
Ethan reached it seconds too late.
He looked down.
The balcony was empty.
A black rope hung from the railing.
Someone had climbed down.
Mia rushed into the room.
“Are they okay?”
Ethan turned.
“Yes.”
Lily ran into his arms.
“He was here.”
Ethan held her tightly.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did he look like?”
Lily shook her head.
“It was dark.”
Mia knelt beside Noah.
“Did he say anything?”
Noah's lips trembled.
“He said Mommy was going to make Daddy leave.”
Ethan froze.
“Mia.”
She looked at him.
“I heard him too.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“Stay here.”
He walked toward the window.
Mia followed.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding out how he got in.”
He examined the rope.
Then the balcony.
Then the neighboring roof.
His security chief arrived moments later.
“Sir!”
Ethan turned.
“Lock the property down.”
“Already doing it.”
“Police?”
“On the way.”
Ethan looked at the security monitor.
“Bring up the external cameras.”
The man hesitated.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone wiped the last twelve minutes.”
Ethan stared.
“From every camera?”
“Yes.”
His expression darkened.
“That isn't possible.”
“It happened.”
Mia looked at him.
“Someone knows your system.”
Ethan nodded.
“Someone knows it very well.”
An hour later, the police were inside the mansion.
The children were taken to a secure room.
Mia sat with them.
Ethan stood in the office.
His security team worked around him.
“Sir,” one of them said, “we found something.”
Ethan turned.
“What?”
“A second device.”
“Where?”
“Inside the west hallway.”
They brought him a tiny black transmitter.
Ethan recognized it immediately.
“That isn't ours.”
“No.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We're trying.”
The device suddenly beeped.
Everyone stopped.
A small green light appeared.
Then a voice came through the speaker.
Distorted.
Male.
“Ethan.”
His security team exchanged looks.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Why was the watch stolen?”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
The voice continued.
“You think Victoria wanted your father's Rolex.”
“She didn't.”
“She wanted what was inside it.”
Ethan went completely still.
“What do you know about the watch?”
“More than you.”
“Who are you?”
The speaker clicked.
Then went silent.
Ethan turned to his security chief.
“Get me the watch.”
The Rolex was still sitting inside the evidence box.
Ethan carried it into his private laboratory.
Mia stood at the doorway.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I want to help.”
“You could be in danger.”
“So could you.”
He looked at her.
She didn't move.
Finally, he nodded.
“Stay behind me.”
Ethan placed the watch under a magnification lamp.
He removed the back plate.
Nothing.
He examined the mechanism.
Still nothing.
Mia watched.
“Maybe he was lying.”
Ethan shook his head.
“He wasn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my father once told me something.”
“What?”
“When I was seventeen, he gave me this watch.”
Mia looked at it.
“He told me it contained something he could never trust a bank to protect.”
“What was it?”
“I didn't know.”
“Why didn't you ask?”
“Because he died two weeks later.”
Mia fell silent.
Ethan continued working.
Then he noticed a tiny marking.
A series of numbers.
C-17-04-89
He stared.
Mia leaned closer.
“What is it?”
“A date.”
“Your father's birthday?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Ethan's face changed.
“My mother's death.”
Mia frowned.
“She died in 1989?”
“Yes.”
“What's significant about that?”
“My father told everyone she died in an accident.”
Mia looked at him.
“You don't believe that?”
“I never did.”
He removed another screw.
The watch opened.
Inside was a tiny metal compartment.
Mia's eyes widened.
“There.”
Ethan carefully removed it.
Inside was a black microchip.
Not much larger than a fingernail.
He stared at it.
“My God.”
“What is it?”
“A storage device.”
“What's on it?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan connected it to an isolated computer.
A password prompt appeared.
ENTER SIX-DIGIT CODE.
Ethan tried his father's birthday.
Wrong.
His mother's.
Wrong.
His own.
Wrong.
Mia watched him.
“Try the date on the watch.”
He entered:
170489
The screen unlocked.
Thousands of files appeared.
Bank statements.
Contracts.
Encrypted emails.
Property records.
And one folder labeled:
COLE FAMILY — PRIVATE
Ethan opened it.
Inside was a document.
He began reading.
His face slowly changed.
Mia noticed.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
“Ethan?”
He turned the screen toward her.
The document contained a list of names.
At the top:
EDWARD COLE — TRUSTOR
Below:
ETHAN COLE — PRIMARY BENEFICIARY
Then:
MARCUS COLE — CONTINGENT BENEFICIARY
Mia looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Ethan's eyes remained on the screen.
“My father created a trust.”
“So?”
“He never told me.”
Mia looked at the next page.
There was a handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, the person who finds this must understand one thing.
Ethan read aloud.
“The company is not what they want.”
He scrolled.
Another sentence appeared.
“They want access to the family trust.”
Mia's stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Ethan continued.
The next page listed several transfers.
Millions of dollars.
Then tens of millions.
Then hundreds.
All routed through offshore accounts.
Mia stared.
“That's impossible.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“Your father was hiding money?”
“He was protecting it.”
“From whom?”
Ethan looked at the names.
Then stopped.
One account holder appeared repeatedly.
V.A. HOLDINGS.
Mia whispered:
“Victoria Ashford?”
Ethan nodded.
“But she didn't have access to the trust.”
“Apparently she did.”
“How?”
He opened another file.
A scanned document appeared.
A signature.
Ethan stared at it.
“My father.”
Mia leaned closer.
“What?”
“That signature is fake.”
“How do you know?”
“I watched him sign thousands of documents.”
Ethan enlarged the image.
The signature was almost perfect.
Almost.
But there was one difference.
His father always made a small mark at the end.
This signature didn't.
Mia looked at him.
“Someone forged it.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Ethan didn't answer.
Instead, he opened the next file.
A list of trust beneficiaries appeared.
His eyes stopped.
Mia saw his expression.
“What?”
He zoomed in.
There was another name.
A name neither of them expected.
LUCAS COLE.
Mia frowned.
“Who is Lucas?”
Ethan's face went pale.
“My older brother.”
“You have an older brother?”
“No.”
Mia stared at him.
“What do you mean, no?”
Ethan looked at the screen.
“My father told me I was his only child.”
Silence.
Mia whispered:
“Then who is Lucas Cole?”
Ethan had no answer.
Suddenly, the computer screen went black.
The microchip disconnected.
The security system alarm screamed.
Ethan grabbed Mia's arm.
“Get down.”
The laboratory window shattered.
Glass exploded across the floor.
A bullet struck the wall.
Mia screamed.
Ethan pulled her behind the desk.
Another shot.
Then silence.
His security team rushed into the room.
“Everyone okay?”
Ethan nodded.
“Call the police.”
His eyes moved toward the broken window.
Someone had tried to destroy the evidence.
But the microchip was still in his hand.
He looked at Mia.
“Whoever sent that message knew about the watch.”
She nodded.
“And they knew about the trust.”
Ethan looked toward the screen.
The name LUCAS COLE was burned into his mind.
Then his phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One new message.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO OPEN THE WATCH.
Ethan typed:
Who is Lucas?
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, a reply arrived.
Ask your brother.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
He looked at Mia.
“My brother is dead.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“My father told me Lucas died before I was born.”
Another message appeared.
That's what they wanted you to believe.
Ethan slowly lowered the phone.
For years, he had believed his family history was simple.
His father.
His mother.
Him.
Now he was beginning to understand that almost everything he'd been told was a lie.
And the Rolex—
the object that had started this entire nightmare—
had never been stolen because it was valuable.
It had been stolen because it contained proof.
Proof of a secret someone had spent decades burying.
And somewhere in Beverly Hills, someone was watching Ethan discover it.
Someone who already knew what he would find next.
The final message arrived.
VICTORIA IS NOT YOUR ENEMY.
Ethan stared.
May you like
Then another line appeared.
SHE'S ONLY THE FIRST PERSON THEY SENT.
